Robert G. Riney, Chair of the Board of The Nemours Foundation, and Hugh Durden, Chairman of the Alfred I. duPont Charitable Trust, today announced the election of three new members to The Nemours Foundation Board of Directors. Joining the Board are William F. D'Alonzo, former CEO and President of Friess Associates and Chairman of the Brandywine Funds, Elliot Joseph, advisor and board member for several private equity portfolio companies including TPG Growth, Chicago Pacific Founders, Triple Tree and Epsilon, and Harold Mills, CEO of VMD Ventures.
"Nemours is delighted to welcome these accomplished leaders and the depth of experience they bring to our organization," said R. Lawrence Moss, MD, president and CEO of Nemours Children's Health System. "Their entrepreneurial spirit, proven track record and knowledge of the diverse communities we serve will be a tremendous asset to our mission."
Mr. D'Alonzo served Friess Associates for more than 30 years, growing the company from a staff of five to more than 40 through even the most tumultuous of financial times including the tech-stock bubble, the 9/11 attack, war in the Middle East and the Great Recession. He is an accomplished investor managing both financial and land assets with a deep commitment to and success with conserving land and restoring wildlife habitat. Mr. D'Alonzo owns and operates five farms, all of which are in Conservation or Agriculture Easements. Four of the farms are on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and one is in Delaware.
He currently serves on various non-profit boards including Delaware Wild Lands, The University of Delaware College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Advisory Board, Wetlands America Trust and Ducks Unlimited Canada. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Management and an MBA concentrated in Finance from Widener University.
Mr. Joseph most recently served as CEO of Hartford HealthCare (HHC) a large, highly integrated regional health care delivery system. Under his leadership of 11 years, HHC grew annual revenue from $1 billion to $4.2 billion. He chairs the Advisory Board for Press Ganey, the board of Health Insights and also serves McKinsey as a faculty member for the Bower Forum.
His previous board and advisory roles include the American Hospital Association, The Bushnell Performing Arts Center, Connecticut Hospital Association Board where he also served as Finance Committee Chair, Greater New York Hospital Association, GNYHA Ventures Corporation and as chair of the Hartford HealthCare Indemnity Services LTD Board. He holds a Masters of Health Services Administration from the University of Michigan, a Bachelor of Arts from the State University of New York, and completed the Wharton School CEO Program for Healthcare Leadership.
Mr. Mills is the CEO of VMD Ventures focused on investing in entrepreneurs in a variety of technology and service industries. He is the former Chairman and CEO of ZeroChaos, a leading global provider of workplace management solutions, transforming the way Fortune 1000 companies acquire and manage their outside contingent labor. Prior to ZeroChaos, he held various executive positions in general management and corporate development with leading internet-based HR and technology companies. He was formerly Director and General Manager for one of AT&T's (then Ameritech's) emerging technology business units.
Mr. Mills serves on the boards of Florida Blue, Rollins College and the University of Central Florida. His community-based board participation has included LIFT Orlando, the Florida Hospital for Children, the Florida Minority Business Opportunity Council, the Boy Scouts of America, the Federal Reserve Bank of Jacksonville, Fifth Third Bank, Florida's Council of 100, the EDC Governor's Council and Florida Citrus Sports, among others, as well as a former member of the Young Presidents Organization. He holds a bachelor's degree from Purdue University and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School.
Rotating off The Nemours Foundation Board of Directors are former Florida Lt. Governor Toni Jennings and Rosa Baumanis Hakala. Ms. Jennings joined The Nemours Foundation Board in 2007 and served on the Board's Operations and Quality Committee, the Compensation Committee and as Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee. She also served on the Nemours Florida Board of Managers from 2009-2018. In addition to her service to Nemours, she served the children and families of Florida as a two-term President of the Florida Senate, successful businesswoman and fifth-grade teacher.
Ms. Hakala, a highly successful retail executive, joined The Nemours Foundation Board in 2006. She recently retired as Vice President Distribution and Logistics for Barnes and Noble, Inc., a Fortune 500 company and the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products. Ms. Hakala served on the Board's Operational Performance, Quality and Safety Committee, and the People, Compensation and Reputation Committee.
"Nemours is extremely grateful to Ms. Jennings and Ms. Hakala for their more than a decade of dedicated service and leadership that saw the expansion of our children's health system with a new freestanding children's hospital in Orlando, and new patient towers in Delaware," said Moss. "All of us at Nemours are deeply appreciative of their many contributions on behalf of children and their families, and our communities."
